Websites reblocked in China

China says it has the right to block websites that break its laws after being accused of restarting the practice it halted during the August Olympic Games as part of a promise to widen media freedom.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that certain websites had breached Chinese law by recognising "two Chinas" - a reference to Taiwan.

Liu would not say whether any websites had been censored.

The BBC reported that China appeared to have banned a number of foreign websites recently, including its Chinese-language news site and Voice of America in Chinese.

The sites had been unblocked after journalists attending the Beijing Olympics complained that the Government was censoring sites deemed sensitive.